Explorers of Alaska

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 59. Chapters: George Vancouver, Vitus Bering, Joseph Billings, Alessandro Malaspina, Malaspina Expedition, Robert Gray, José María Narváez, James Colnett, Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, George Baker Leavitt, Sr., Edward Henry Harriman, William Healey Dall, Francisco de Eliza, Juan Carrasco, George Dixon, Georg Wilhelm Steller, Frederick Schwatka, Salvador Fidalgo, Bruno de Heceta, James Johnstone, Robert Kennicott, Jacinto Caamaño, Otto von Kotzebue, Evstratii Delarov, Ivan Petrof, Henry Tureman Allen, José Cardero, Frederick Whymper, Francisco Antonio Mourelle, Ejnar Mikkelsen, Gavril Sarychev, Adolf Etolin, Gavriil Pribylov, Grigory Shelikhov, Mikhail Tebenkov, Gerasim Izmailov, Gonzalo López de Haro, Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh, Ivan Vasilyev, Ludwig von Hagemeister, Mikhail Levashev, Pyotr Krenitsyn, Aleksei Chirikov, Jack McQuesten, Mikhail Gvozdev, Ivan Fyodorov. Excerpt: Alessandro Malaspina (November 5, 1754 - April 9, 1810) was an Italian nobleman who spent most of his life as a Spanish naval officer and explorer. Under a Spanish royal commission, he undertook a voyage around the world from 1786 to 1788, then, from 1789 to 1794, a scientific expedition throughout the Pacific Ocean, exploring and mapping much of the west coast of the Americas from Cape Horn to the Gulf of Alaska, crossing to Guam and the Philippines, and stopping in New Zealand, Australia, and Tonga. Malaspina was christened "Alessandro". He signed his letters in Spanish "Alexandro", which is usually modernized to "Alejandro" by Spanish scholars. Malaspina was born in Mulazzo, a small principality ruled by his family. Today part of Tuscany, it was then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, a fiefdom of the Holy Roman Empire. Alessandro's parents were the Marquis Carlo Morello and Caterina Meli Lupi di Soragna. During 1762-1765, his family lived in Palermo with Alessandro's great-uncle, Giovanni Fogliani Sforza d'Aragona, the viceroy of Sicily. From 1765 to 1773 he studied at the Clementine College in Rome. In 1773 he was accepted into the Order of Malta and spent about a year living on the island of Malta where he learned the basics of sailing. Malaspina entered the Royal Navy of Spain in 1774 and received the rank of Guardiamarina. Between 1774 and 1786 he took part in a number of naval battles and received many promotions. In January of 1775, aboard the frigate Santa Teresa, Malaspina took part of the expedition to relieve Melilla, which was under siege by Moroccans. Shortly after he was promoted to frigate-ensign. In July of 1775 he participated the siege of Algiers and in 1776 was promoted to ship's ensign. From 1777 to 1779, aboard the frigate Astrea, Malaspina made a round-trip voyage to the Philippines, rounding the Cape of Good Hope in both directions. During the voyage he was promoted to frigate-lieutenant. In January of 1780 he was in the Battle of Cape San